


What’s The Right Answer

by Midnightdragon07



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Drabbles, M/M, Teacher AU, maybe a full fic at some point, slow burn but not really, tumblr shit i wrote
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-17 16:47:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29844468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Midnightdragon07/pseuds/Midnightdragon07
Summary: Gavin is a chemistry physics teacher for high school juniors and seniors.He meet’s the new English teacher, a spot that has been notorious for kicking out weak willed substitutes.Gavin bet’s Tina $100 The teacher doesn’t make it further than 6 months, then doubles it when he see’s just how pristine and stuck up this new teacher was.Apparently; he used to be an English professor upstate.Yeah. Gavin’s already decided. This teacher isn’t going to last long.
Relationships: Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	1. Crush

**Author's Note:**

> This is all shit I wrote on tumblr. It might be a full fic at some point, I just figured putting it on here might send it on the path of someone who might enjoy it.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Again..... just Drabble shit  
> Might incorporate it into something bigger  
> Probably will  
> I wrote this shit on my phone so i wouldn’t put it past me to do more

Headcanon: one of the students had a crush on Gavin because he's the "cool" teacher. Gavin thinks it's hilarious and flattering (though he'd never tease or mock a student). Nines.... Nines doesn't think it's hilarious at all, which Gavin finds even funnier

HAHA YES

\-------

Gavin knows the kid is into him, he's asked them to stay after class everyday to work on their grade considering they were so close to failing.

Unfortunately for them, English was right after Chemistry.

Which means Nines had to get involved.

"it's not like the kid minds much." Gavin defended after nines interrupted the lesson and the student scurried away bashfully.

"of course they don't mind, Reed. Why would they when instead of my boring class they get to ogle you all afternoon."

Gavin snickered at the obvious distaste Nines had for the idea.

"the kid is enthusiastic about chemistry."

"that's not-" after nines cut off he saw Gavin hiding a smile beneath his hand. Nines grabbed it and tore it away. "You're doing this on purpose."

Gavin playfully shrugged with a sky smirk. To which Nines responded by walking Gavin up to the nearest wall and glaring down at him.

"Unbelievable." Nines pinned the hand he held against the wall and boxed the other by Gavin's side. He lowered his face to be level with the chemistry teachers own.

Gavin could feel the heat rise and his breathing become shallow, Nines hand slid up the side of Gavin's torso to land and cup his jaw.

"Part of my charm." Gavin managed to mumble out.


	2. Reciprocation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Again just an ask from tumblr  
> All in one place so people don’t have to scroll endlessly in my shitshow of a page to see what i wrote  
> Sorry

When does teacher!Nines start reciprocating teacher!Gavin’s attraction and what sets it off 👀👀👀

Alright, so! I've thought a little bit about this. But, I think Nines would start reciprocating the second he sees how much Gavin cares for the students.

because so far Nines has only seen gavin as this lazy, carefree asshole who's only in it for himself.

Nines has had a lot of experience with terrible teachers and he can't understand for the life of him why they would be teachers since they seem like they hate it so much

And it pisses him off everytime he sees it. So he mistakes gavin as one of these people.

As some unknown entity that became a teacher for some ungodly reason and isn't actually teaching the students anything and doesn't care about their education.

While nines, who used to be a professor before he moved downstate to accept an ongoing offer for 6 years as an English teacher highschool juniors.

He puts every piece into place carefully, trying to plan ahead for every little thing and show that he cares so very much about every student

(he shows it in an odd way as well, he sees having them stay after school and miss their activities and such to work on his class as showing he cares. It tells his students that he doesn't care about their personal lives, just about their involvement in his class.)

While gavin is the opposite, he's changing his own schedule to meet the needs of his students.

So when nines is walking the halls before heading out, he sees Gavin's room light on and is like. "Usually teachers leave by 5 . The hell?"

And as he gets closer (gavin keeps his door open to welcome everyone. He thinks its a stupid analogy but unconsciously uses it nonetheless). And he hears gavin talking to a couple students and is like.

"hey, don't stress. You'll get it. The test isn't for a while. Don't get into your head about it. You'll freak yourself out. Try this instead." And Gavin's voice is so soft, compared to how nines usually hears it. Which is usually angry and pissy.

Nines doesn't know how long he stood there watching gavin teach, but at some point the students started to pack up and Gavin was calling it a day and nines made a 180 turn then hightailed it out of there. Using his long legs for more than just looks.

He didn't understand why he didn't want gavin to see him

He just knew that gavin affected him, and he was curious to see why.


	3. Where is this going

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No idea where this is going  
> Gavin thinks nines is hot  
> Ect  
> And vice versa

Headcanon:

When visiting each other’s office (with no one else around to catch them, probably after they started dating hopefully), teacher!Nines will go as far as sitting on Gavin’s desk

Teacher!Gavin, however, will promptly throw himself into Nines’ lap and recline into him like he’s just a breathing chair with no fucks given

“Gavin I’m trying to grade papers”

*scratchy stubble rub on his cheek* “grade papers later I want kisses”

“Gavin—“

“KISSES”

YES, ABSOLUTELY, YES

\--------

Gavin gets so distracted by nines, ever since their _moment,_ he hasn't been able to keep his eyes off of the english teacher. And those sweet sweet long ass legs of his.

So, it certainly didn't help his focus, especially since he didn't have a lot to spare in the first place; when nines sat on his desk and pinned Gavin with his legs.

"I-" Gavin's voice broke off, he cleared his throat and tried again. "I have things to do, Nines."

"mhm." Was the other teachers answer.

Gavin tried to keep his focus on the papers he had to finish grading. Papers that have been sitting untouched for a week now.

But, he heard the groan of Nines pants as he shifted, and felt the hand that swept carefully up Gavin's chest. Resting against his chin and brushing the stubble that dusted there.

Gavin made the mistake of looking over at Nines, seeing the fully blown pupils overtook the steel cold blue that usually resided.

The hint of a pink flush that dusted his cheeks.

Gavin hated himself for what he had to do next.

\------------

Gavin leaned against the english rooms door. They haven't yet talked about what happened, or what keeps happening.

Instead of speaking out about it, Gavin just stares into the classroom at the source.

He didn't understand exactly what it was about nines that he found so irrisistable.

Perhaps it was the soft way his eyelashes rested against his cheeks when he read.

Or the subtle way he would turn a page or flip over a paper, as if it was precalculated and carefully planned.

Or the long fingers that occasionally drifted through his hair to keep it out of his face as he read.

Or the fact that his toungue stuck out when he would write.

Whatever it was, it drew Gavin near. He couldn't help himself. He needed to show each and every one of these actions that he loved them so dearly.

That he thought about it so often and late into the night.

Without saying a word he twirled Nines' chair towards him and anchored both his knees on either side of Nines lap.

"wh-" was Nines' only response, more taken with surprise than anything else.

Without thinking Gavin's combed his hands through Nines' hair and began to represent just how much he thinks about him.

First was the attention to Nines' ears, just loving how often he tries to put hair behind it but failing to make anything stay.

Then to Nines jawline. So clean and sharp, shaving so often and keeping himself so pristine.

Then his jugular, Gavin can't resist him and the way that his throat would vibrate when he spoke. The the way it would bob when he swollowed irritation.

"Reed. Please, I'm grading. Couldn't you do this some other ti-" Nines' voice cut off as Gavin found the joint between his neck and shoulder particularly sensitive.

"Grade later." He growled as he kissed yet another spot that left Nines speechless.

He could tell Nines was tense and unamused, but Gavin gave up double guessing ages ago.

After nines have a half-hearted attempt at pushing him off, Gavin took one of the english teachers hands that rested on his shoulder. Intertwined their fingers and effectively pinned him to the chair they both sat in.

"Kisses now."

"oh is that all?" Nines voice was smug, but in return he just got nipped on the neck. No actual answer from Gavin.

\-----------


	4. Jealous nines

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jealous nines  
> Idk what more you expect from me  
> This is the shit i wrote on tumblr

Ok so that last ask you answered gave me a new headcanon w/ jealous Nines. Nines & Gavin run into one Gavin's old students outside of school and they're catching up "Yeah I have a BS in biochem now, thanks so much for getting me interested in science. Oh btw I used to have a huge crush on you. Funny, right??"

Oh, yes, I enjoy jealous Nines very much

————-

“Glad to hear you’re doing alright.” Gavin grinned at his former student, they always stayed behind to ask questions in his class and seemed genuinely interested in learning while he taught them.

“Yeah, the job is pretty cool. And the area’s nice.” The kid shrugged as they slid into Gavin and Nines shared booth.

Gavin hadn’t meant for this to happen, getting out of town for the conference was supposed to be student free. Gavin even took them to a hole in the wall diner he’s been to before; since these conferences were usually annual. It was a place to be secluded, where they wouldn’t be recognized and interrupted.

Yet here they were.

“Yeah? How’d college treat ya?” Gavin didn’t mind the company however, he liked to see the kids he helped to bloom thrive in their new environments. Especially one’s he was particular to while they were still his students.

“Well, it was certainly stressful. Especially since I decided to persue a BS in Biochem.”

“Damn, that sound’s rough.” Gavin slapped the back of his knuckled against Nine’s broad chest. Tempted to whiisper over to him and gloat but, instead continued to watch his former student recount his tales.

“It was all worth it, you really sparked my interest in science Mr. Reed.”

“Dude, I haven’t been your teacher for YEARS. Call me Gavin.”

Gavin didn’t miss the way the kid ducked his head and a blush form on their cheeks. Something’s never change.

“Sorry, heh.” They couldn’t help, but itch the spot that began to turn pink. “Yknow, I used to have a crush on you. In highschool.”

Their eye contact was a small flicker before they held Gavin’s gaze fully once more. A grin formed and Gavin couldn’t help but mimic it. The kid was always so charismatic. He didn’t entirely notice Nines stiffen beside him.

“Pretty funny, right?”

“You were always a little too eager for class.” Was Gavins sly reply. Which caused a slow but loud breath to exit Nines, audibly describing his distaste at their conversation topic.

They haven’t yet labeled things between them, but Gavin has a feeling that Nines can be a slight bit ‘Possessive’.

The kid barked out a laugh at Gavin’s remark. “Don’t get me wrong, the class was fascinating. I just-“

“Found my ass a little more fun to watch?”

The former student couldn’t help the burst of giggles that left their chest, relieved to share this and be met with such a relaxed response.

“Honestly, it was your biceps. And the way your hands would write on the whiteboard.” They shrugged as if it was in the past. The flush on their cheeks gave a hint that it wasn’t entirely.

Gavin understood completely, finding someone previously attractive for a long period of time; leaving, and then reopening that can of beans is an experience he’s not unfamiliar with.

“My hands?”

Their eyes flickered down to look at the hands in question. As soon as they did, however. Nines laid his own arms on the table to grab and hide Gavin’s from view.

Their eyes flickered back up and finally met with Nines, acknowledging him for the first time that evening.

“Oh hi, I don’t think we’ve met before. I-“

“We haven’t.” Nines interrupted, then fell silent without a single attempt to introduce himself. Gavin tried to pull his hand away from Nine’s sudden contact, then stared at his blantent rudeness.

A knowing smirk played at the ends of Gavin’s lips. Nines always shared a level of polite when it came to strangers. Gavin’s observed Nine’s behavior, and how he would. Make eye contact, smile, introduce himself. Then politely return to the conversation.

A few exceptions would be his own meeting with Gavin, and this one right here.

It irritated Gavin in the beginning, but seeing Nines now blatantly decide to ignore his usual ‘programming’. Gavin felt a swell of something unknown in his chest.

And instead of acting on it, Gavin looked to the former student who watched Nines cautiously.

“This is Richard Stern, he’s the newest english teacher.” Gavin could feel Nine’s gaze on him without moving his head. Knowing Nine’s was choosing to look at Gavin through the corner of his eyes. As if waiting for Gavin to continue and say something more.

But, when he didn’t Nines’ jaw clenched and he closed his eyes.

“Snap, I didn’t know they replaced the old one?”

“You’re gonna have to be more specific, I think we’ve gone through 3 teachers and 4 subs since you went there.”

“No way.”

Gavin nodded, a pleased smile gracing his face. “Yours was...” Gavin paused and tilted his head to ponder before he tried snapping his fingers; which were still occupied by Nine’s hands. “Mrs Holt?”

“Yeah, it was my class where she quit.”

“I heard she also left her shoes?”

“It was weird, we were in the middle of our Shakespeare lesson and admittedly things got a little out of hand.

“Your grade was like that.”

“Yeah, and she just up and left. Didn’t even take her purse.”

“Or car keys.”

“OR car keys?” Their voice got the slightest bit louder with surprise.

“Nope.” Gavin hadn’t noticed, but at some point Nines was pressed against his side and there was something warm draped across his shoulders. It was Nine’s arm. And when Gavin made a subtle shift to move, Nine’s other hand which sat under the table, grasped his thigh in a death grip. And Gavin feared for the bit that laid just a few inches above.

So, he immediately froze in place.

He looked at Nines out of the corner of his eyes and saw him staring above him out the window. At what exactly? Gavin wasn’t sure.

But, he knew he was in for it when they were alone. It was always fun to tease Nines like this, knowing Nines is to polite to do anything publicly. However, sometimes Gavin had a tendency to take things a little too far. And he had to pay the price in the end.

Taking the _not-so-subtle_ , subtle hint, he decided to end things before it got too far.

“Well, we should probably pack up and head out, our conference is at 4 am. “ Gavin started to rise, but the grip Nines sported didn’t let up.

They looked between Nine’s and Gavin and then nodded slowly. “Yeah of course, forgot that stuff happened here in town.” The former student rose to leave, then hesitated.

Nines hated that they hesitated. Gavin could tell Nines hated it because of the way he began to cling to Gavin’s jeans. As if he could tear them off with a twitch of his wrist.

What a show that would be.

They turned and wrote something down on a spare napkin, left over from their dinner. Then slid it to Gavin.

“If you’re not doing anything later, maybe hit me up. We could catch up some more.” They smiled in a way that could be taken as innocently and non sexually as possible.

Nines, however, has had enough at this point.

He took the arm that draped over Gavin and pulled him into his broad chest then the hand that gripped his thigh finally let up when Nines leaned across the table with a filthy grin and narrowed eyes.

“He’ll be _busy_.”

Their face reddened at the implication, Gavin’s as well with embarrassment. What the hell does Nines think he’s doing making such bold claims in public to a former student of his?

However, a part of Gavin really enjoyed knowing he was wanted to deeply to the point of posession.

“Well, nice to see you Mr. Reed. And nice to meet you Mr. Stern. Um. Bye.” The kid hurried out.

Gavin looked to meet Nines stare, not surprised to see such jealousy tinging those cold blue eyes. A little pissed and a little flattered, an odd combination for Gavin.

“Are you paying the check or am I?” The flat expression was all he got in response.

—————


	5. Shop teacher Gavin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here’s something that doesn’t even fit in my own story but i couldn’t help writing nontheless

Shop teacher!Gavin once helped math teacher!Nines fix his car in the parking lot when it didn't start after school one day. No way he didn't bend over the engine, putting his ass all out on display while simultaneously mocking Nines's taste in cars. Nines may or may not have snuck a peak (or 5) thinking he was subtle

"And it just broke down as soon as I parked."

Gavin rolled up his sleeves and grinned at the other teacher. "Good thing ya got me. Lemme take a look. Pop the hood."

Nines nodded and rounded to his open door and pulled the hatch.

Nines wasn't sure what happened inside the engine, the amount of dark smoke barrelling out didn't give him any ease.

And neither did the noises Gavin kept making.

The: "ooh." "Oh, no." "Hmm.." "how? This isnt-"

And especially not when Gavin sucked on his teeth and let out a loud exhale.

Nines back tracked to stand next to the shop teacher once more, his eyebrows upturned in concern.

Was she going to make it? And was it going to be expensive?

At first nines tried leaning over and looking in as well, trying to see what Gavin was seeing. But, Gavin promptly shoo'd him away.

Saying to 'get out of the light.'

With a heavy sigh, Nines started to pace. Back and forth in front of the open hood only twice before a wiggle of something caught his attention.

At first glance, Gavin's ass was pert in the air. No bent knees, folded at the waist.

It looked uncomfortable on his back.

Nines' own eyes flickered away out of respect. But, after a second wiggle of Gavin's hips did Nines catch on.

This motherfucker was peacocking him.

Showing these beautiful tail feathers, and shaking it just so and captured Nines' attention.

Nines bit his lip and on realized he was staring at the subtle swaying movements Gavin made, _after_ the shop teacher spoke.

"I can't believe you would get this. Y'know, these kinda cars are made to break down. Ah but you wouldn't know that. Would ya."

Nines clenched his jaw and narrowed his eyes, of course Gavin would find any moment to insult him. Not even looking away from his own task to do so.

Honestly, from this angle, Nines didn't mind.

"what you want to do, is scrap this piece of junk. And get something like my baby." Gavin stood up straight just to glance over his shoulder and toss a point in some direction.

Nines hadn't noticed where that ended up being, too busy pretending like he wasn't just looking at his butt as if it were an art piece needing evaluation in a museum.

Without a single glance to Nines, he bent back over with a shake of his tail. As if he could physically feel Nines gaze brush over him.

The insistent urge to smack or squeeze a single one of Gavin's absurdly plump cheeks was growing with each glance.

Nines let out a sigh and looked up at the sky to try and distract the hole his mind rabbited down.

But, once again, Gavin sucked his attention back again.

"This just won't do. Nah, can't blame ya for not thinking beyond the exterior. It's only certain people who think to pop the hood and take a look at the inside."

Nines didn't even care about Gavins words, the hurtful sting bouncing right off. His steely gaze was enchanted by the sight of Gavin spreading his legs in a ridiculous way to look further in. His top half completely disappearing inside the hood.

These jeans hugged Gavin's thighs way too nicely. The way it clung to his claves, even more obscene. The twist and pull of each fold and crease as Gavin worked something out inside his car.

Nines felt as though he short circuited perhaps, somewhere along the way.

Because Gavin had long since moved to face him, maybe even knew just what Nines was staring so obsessively at.

But he eventually snapped back to, when Gavin waved his hand in front of Nines face. Snapping his fingers twice.

"Hey, Math freak. You there?"

"oh, I apologize. Got lost in thought."

He could see the knowing look spread across Gavin's face and the way he grinned with his canines and licked his teeth. Looking at Nines up and down with a hooded gaze. Causing Nines to heat up with a furious blush.

Gavin knew.

"Oh really. Well, that's good to know."

"AnYWays! What's the diagnosis?"

"uh yeah, you need-." Gavin was talking but Nines couldn't follow.

"what?"

"Just.. ugh okay." Gavin grabbed Nines nice new jacket with his dirty greasy hands and pulled Nines down to meet him.

He growled in his ear causing a shiver to crawl down his spine and the blush to worsen.

"my place, 9 O'clock."

Nines kept like that for a solid 3 minutes while Gavin closed his car hood and stalked off.

Blinking himself out of it, he brushed his jacket and saw the stains with a groan.

The offer still ringing in his head, then the growing realization that his car isn't going to get him there.

"... Maybe Connor could give me a ride."

\----------


	6. Part two of reciprocation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin finds Nine’s very attractive, obviously

Started thinking about this again... So

\-------

Gavins always noticed the new teacher was different levels of hot.

He's seen him across the cafeteria, striding with his long legs in those tight fitting slacks.

Hes seen him bent to grab something from the vending machines, or off the floor of the halls.

He's seen him take off that ridiculous jacket to adjust the long sleeves of his button up and show off the pale forearms.

But, the moment Gavin really noticed Mr. Richard "Nines" Stern. Would be on a Thursday in November.

It was cloudy out and the weather in detroit holding a high percent chance to snow later in the afternoon.

There was nothing out of the ordinary to predict such outcome.

Yet here it was, Gavin found Mr. Stern in the library. Not unusual for an English teacher.

But, Mr. Stern was preoccupied with a book during lunch hour and hadn't noticed the bell go off.

So, he didn't return to his class on time, highly unusual for the unnecessarily strict teacher.

His students, thinking something had happened; called out for Mr. Reed. Knowing if something went wrong, he could keep it on the DL.

After checking the teachers lounge and the English teachers own family members classrooms. After not finding a hint of his location, He settled on the library being an obvious course of action.

And found him, sitting on the ledge next to the window.

The panes of glass frosted over, but the risen sun glistening off of it causing a shine to enter the library.

Mr. Stern sat with his legs pulled up, and a book comfortably in his long fingers.

The softest look rounding out his normally cold and ridged features.

The way the light reflected off his grey eyes, and the way he looked so enjoyably immersed in his own little space. Gavin couldn't look away.

He was beautiful.

And Gavin was fixated and wanted more.

\--------

Thank you


	7. The Actual First Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don’t fucking know  
> This is all a shit show  
> If you want more I’ll write more  
> I have more already typed up in my doc’s

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote quite a bit more this chapter

Summer vacation was over, another two weeks and the students would return and the routine of getting to know new students and convincing them not to drop out would begin.

Along with the plan to follow the curriculum, and then falling off the curriculum and then getting sidetracked and finding himself either way ahead of plans or way behind.

Gavin sat in his lone classroom, leaning back in his old beaten chair and his feet propped on his desk. He looked at the oversized binder that held the contents of his class sitting unopened on the end next to his laptop. He had already redecorated, replacing the single poster, a ‘keep calm and put your goggles on’ cat and with a “Chemistry is like cooking just don’t lick the spoon.”

Genius.

And already cleaned out all his beakers and equipment. All of it drying on the appropriate lab tables.

Gavin knew he had to get started on the assignments, knowing it all wasn’t going to organize itself. But, the idea of doing that was akin to sticking his hand in a bottle of hydrochloric acid.

Luckily there was a knock on the open door, a grin easily took place and he happily took the distraction. He looked up, not surprised to find one of his only friends at the school peeking in.

“Hey Gav, saw your light on and thought someone broke in.”

“You thought someone would willingly break into the chemistry lab? At a highschool? Tina.”

“Well I wasn’t expecting you until next week. What happened to your vacation?” Tina shrugged and invited herself in, pulling up one of the stools used for the lab tables to his desk (technically a lab table for demonstrations) which sat at the same height.

“I was just so excited to start classes again.” Gavins sarcasm dripped on every edge of his words. “Yaaaay.”

Tina just rolled her eyes, then leaned forward on the desk (Demonstration table.) Waiting for Gavin to start dishing his story. When he noticed she didn’t believe him he tried again.

“Turns out Hawaii just isn’t for little ol me.”

Tina’s eyes narrow and a disbelieving stare took place. “Like I believe that. C’mon, tell me everything.”

“I was caught with a secret drug ring.”

She kept her stare, Gavin tried again.

“I slept with the vacation manager’s daughter.”

Nothing.

“Okay, it was his son.”

An eyebrow raise.

“Seriously, I missed school _so_ much.”

“Fine, don’t tell me.” Tina pushed back and patted the table twice, her eyes trying to find something she might have missed. Looking to his two day missed shave, the scar on his nose, his greasy unwashed hair with a few strands that just wouldn’t keep out of his face.

Perhaps she would find something that would tell her in his sweater and jeans, or perhaps his leather jacket had the answers.

When she found nothing, she sighed.

“How was your vacation Gav?”

“Actually pretty alright. Almost drowned, met a shark, lost a family at sea. The usual vacation highlights.” His voice sounded like he told the truth, but Tina knew better.

After working with Gavin every year for 6 years, she’s caught onto his little antics.

“I’m glad to hear you enjoyed yourself. I’m assuming you slept the entire time and went to the beach once, hated it and regretted the entire trip.”

“.... No?”

“Sure.” She paused and waited for Gavin to say something, when he didn’t she spoke again. Not really giving him much of a chance for reply anyways.

“ _How was your summer vacation, Tina_?” She said in a mock imitation of his voice.

“Why thank you for asking Gavin, really shows how much you care. My summer went by uneventfully. I worked part time at a library, not as a librarian, but one of those summer program reading things they do for the elementary schools. And then I went and visited my family-“

“I would have asked if I thought I would get something new out of your answer.”

“What?”

“Here, I’ll tell you what you did during the summer and you tell me if I’m wrong. You did as you’ve already said. And, visited your family for Fourth of July. Then, you thought about taking a trip to Colorado, then decided against it _again_. And then finally, you made some ‘ _interesting new friends_ ’” His voice goes higher to try and mimic her voice, it doesn’t go well. “And now you’re talking to them, but they haven’t written back in a while. And I’m gonna guess, you might have gone to some kind of science gig that sounds cool on paper, but in actuality it was super lame and full of old white dudes.” He falls silent waiting for her response.

The pause goes on for longer than he thought but she eventually responded.

“.... I also went to a renaissance fair.” She grinned as if she won. Gavin rolled his eyes.

“What about everything else?”

“Nope, I almost did go to Colorado though. I was so close to buying the ticket and everything.”

“Yep, you filled out everything, then hovered over the ‘ _buy_ ’ button and then double guessed yourself and chickened out. I bet the tab is still open on your computer right now.”

“It… might be.” She looked to the side in thought. After it fell silent she huffed out a sigh and leaned forward again.

“Well,” Tina switched gears, already done with this topic of conversation and how it wasn’t leading anywhere. “youre back early so I’m sure you’ve heard already.”

“Heard what?”

“About the new teacher.”

“What new teacher?”

“The new English teacher for the juniors. You didn’t know?”

“Wait, junior-“ realization set in. “Did the sub die?” Gavin was intrigued now, he leaned forward hoping to catch whatever droplets she might spill. “He was like, what 90?”

“No,” She started slowly, a little disturbed by his interest. “They found a replacement for the last teacher that quit; over the summer. He’s some professor who got moved here.”

He flopped back in his seat with disappointment and a sigh escaped his lips before curiosity took over.

“Professor.” Gavin opened a drawer and pulled out the first sucker that sat there and absentmindedly pulled the wrapper off and stuck it in his mouth. “Bet he doesn’t last long.”

“I’m sure he’d do fine. He taught for a couple years at a university upstate.”

“Public highschool and _university_ , are two very different things.” The sucker was tangarine, it rolled over his teeth. Clicking against them pleasantly.

“We should wish him luck, considering...”

“Considering no ones been able to keep the spot longer than a couple of months the entire time I’ve been here?”

“Yeah… What was the longest time?”

“Hold on, I kept track.”

Ignoring the untouched massive binder he needed to look over, he slid his laptop in front of him and flipped open the lid, typed in his password and quickly pulled up the file he looked for.

“Let’s see; Jones - 2 months, no. Haute - 3 weeks and 2 days. Not quite. Yehma - 5 months 3 days and 5 hours. Ha, that one was- ha- uh, no. Aha! A Mrs. Holt with a whopping 6 months, 22 days, and 2 hours. She walked right out of the classroom without her purse or keys. Haven’t seen her since.”

“What is it with people and junior’s English? It’s not that terrible, I think?”

“I keep saying, it was cursed. I don’t know how or why, it’s like that one _phkin_ thing from the wizard books.”

“Harry Potter?”

“Yeah, the Dark art’s position or whatever.”

“You didn’t know the name, but you knew the position that was cursed?”

“.. Listen, I don’t wanna hear it. Just tell me if I’m right or not.”

“Yeah, it was supposedly cursed by Snape when he was refused the position. But-“

“Ha, nerd.”

“You-“

“ANYWAYS.” Gavin loudly interjected, effectively cutting Tina off. She waited for him to continue but when he just watched her she sighed.

“Yes?”

“The english _professor_.” He said in a haughty voice. “Anything else I should know about him?”

“Besides the fact that he’s totally your type?”

“My type? There’s no way.”

“And you coudn’t land him if you tried.”

“Hey-“

“Just saying, he’s way out of your league. I talked to him today. The guy is-“ She scrunched her face trying to explain how exactly it was talking to the guy without saying any words.

“This tells me nothing.”

“He’s something else, maybe exactly what the position needs.”

“And that would be…?” He waited and she shrugged.

“He’s very put together.”

“My god Tina, that could be anything. Fine, I’ll just have to check him out myself.”

She snorted. “I would love to see that.” She glanced at the clock over Gavins shoulder. 

“Unfortunately, my impromptu study guide for the sedimentary rocks is not going to write itself. I’ve gotta go, wanna do lunch?”

“Yeah, why not. We’re not going to the sandwich place.”

“Oh come on, the guy there-“

“No.”

“He asked for-“

“Nope.”

“A Date, Gavin!”

“I’m 90% certain the guy does crack.”

“He’s- What?”

“It’s a vibe I get from him.”

“You can’t say that about every guy who seems interested in you.”

“I don’t. I say it about every guy who looks like they do crack cocane.”

“Jeeze, fine. We’ll go somewhere else.”

“Sounds good to me.” He waved her away and she just smiled and chuckled.

She left his door how it was when she entered which he was grateful for. Some teachers automatically close it right after and it just feels wrong. But Tina get’s him in a way that no one else has.

After a few seconds and another swish of his sucker as it clicked against the teeth on the right side this time. He leaned back in his seat and began the staring contest with his binder once again.

It was a simple little back and forth, one he was determined to win. Even though he already knew this battle was futile. 

Gavin lasted three minutes before he groaned as loudly as possible and gave up. Roughly he ripped his legs from on top of his desk and slammed his heels into the floor. Then he aggressivly slid the binder to in front of him and threw open the first page, the feeling of bashing his head into the desk growing larger as he read the first sentence.

“Introduction to Chemistry-“ 

Gavin managed to work in a trance for 3 hours before a knock on the door pulled him out of it. Irritation brimmed and he looked up hoping to give a good tongue lashing at whoever took him out of working zone. It died on his lips when he caught the gaze of the reason he's back early.

At least, part of the reason.

"Hey Mr. G. You didn't say what time so I figured the same time as my class when I went here was fine?" A tall teen stood against the door frame and then invited himself in.

Gavin sighed and pushed his binder away, he stood to meet the kid.

"Hey Shane, you're fine. Just got into the zone, need to get this sh-t done." He grumbled and pulled a chair to his desk. 

"Sorry, we need to do this. I didn't think I would fail the first time." 

"You're fine kid, test anxiety happens. We just need to drill this into your smooth little brain so you can't physically fail again."

"I can pay you for the lessons?"

"Nah, don’t worry about it."

"You sure? I got some cash saved up, I don't mind."

"Seriously it's fine. Just grab one of the books and we'll go over what your test covers."

Shane slid out of his stool and snatched one of the physics books that sat on a cart at the front of the room.

"I just failed the formulas bit, I don't know why but I couldn't remember a single one for the life of me."

"Dude, took me forever to get this to stick in my head. I get it. We'll make a list and find the best way jam this information and make it stay.” Gavin hooked up his laptop up to the cord to project his pre-made slides onto his whiteboard across from the desks in the middle of his room. Shane sat into one of the desks instead of the stool at Gavin's table.

“Alright, just skip to the back of the book. There should be a sorta glossery with a guide to each formula.”

“Damn, if i knew this was here I woulda used to so much in your class.”

“I know, that’s why I didn’t say it was there. Figure if someone’s gonna go through the book then find it, they deserve to use it. If not, they don’t. Ya get?”

“Totally.”

“What’s the first one?”

“AC Circuits.”

“Oh, so a fun one. Alright-“ Gavin fell into ‘teacher mode’ quickly, it was an experience Tina had described to him once before when she observed his class. He never noticed it happened, it sliding into place so cleanly. The way his voice softened and eye contact was easier, that despite there only being one person in the room. He acted as if he taught the entire class. She mentioned how ‘teacher mode’ made even her feel as though she was safe to learn in his classroom, something she wasn’t sure was a thing until that moment.

Gavin would stop and pause sometimes for questions, then he would ask himself some if no one had any.

“ _But Mr. Reed, why is it necessary to take it to the second power if it’s already time’s two?”_ He would ask himself in a wildly adjusted voice from his own. He would turn around to look at some random student, acting as if they were the one to ask the question.

“Thank you for asking Jessica.” He’d point at the person not named Jessica. “You see, despite it feeling super dumb. And don’t get me wrong. Some of this is _super dumb_. But I guess some upity white dude was like. You know what this needs? Doubled. Let’s time’s this sh-t against itself. And it worked.”

Eventually the student’s would feel more comfortable about asking ‘dumb’ questions. Gavin doesn’t think any question is dumb, considering if they understood they probably wouldn’t ask. And he would prefer if they would ask and understand, than stay silent and don’t.

Even if it gets repetitive.

“I don’t get why we need to find the square root of it. We already took it to the power of two.” Shane asked, his pencil furiously scratching against his notebook. Gavin looked down and noticed he lost Shane somewhere along the way considering the way his notebook was filled with doodles rather than notes.

Something he’d done himself at some point. 

“Because we're taking the square root of everything _after_ we take it to the second power.”

“But, why do that, doesn’t it kinda negate the point?”

“Nah, cus it’s in the whole formula under the square root we’ve gotta finish the equation first, then square root the answer.”

“Why not just take the power of two out and then we don’t need to square root it.”

“Can’t do that either, because not everything in the equation is to the second power. That extra little bit is where the answer comes from see.” Gavin pointed to the part of the equation that didn’t fall under the parentheses. “It all adds up and then we break it down. You get?”

“I guess?”

“Think of it like this, after doing the power of two; you get four bottles of ranch, four bottles of ketchup and nine bottles of soda. If you split it up without the power of or the square root. You would get two bottles of ranch, two bottles of ketchup but still nine bottles of soda. But if you do everything in the equation, You would get; rounding up, around 5 bottles altogether.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, two very different answers.”

“Why ranch?”

“Is this really what youre going to take away from this lesson?”

“Yeah probably.”

“... At least you're honest.”

Gavin clicked around on his laptop and typed in a few things into the slide he was looking on,

“We’ll come back to it, what’s the next equation?

“Hey, Ms. Chen.” Shane replied. 

“Ms. Chen isn’t-“ Gavin stopped himself, he sat on top of the counter that was just under the white board, his feet froze from kicking against the wooden cabinet doors. His head whipped around to locate the source of Shanes distraction. 

“The _phk_ are you doing here?” His voice sounded pissed, but the look on his face was more startled and a little embarrassed. How long had Tina been standing there not saying anything, and why hadn’t he noticed sooner.

The look on Tina’s face make Gavins embarrassment deepen, causing a flush to crawl up the back of his neck.

She held a knowing grin and a sparkle in her eyes he didn’t quite like.

“It’s lunchtime,” She replied, keeping Gavins line of sight despite him wanting to avoid eyecontact. “You really missed class huh?”

“I-“ Gavin cut himself off. Then tried down a different path. “It’s lunch?” He twisted to look at the time, despite his laptop clearly having a clock on his lap. 

“Yep. Hey, Shane. What are you doing here? Didn’t you graduate?”

“Yeah,” Shane fidgeted in his seat, a sheepish grin formed as his gaze flickered around and his feet kicked under his desk. “I failed the entrance exam for one of my science classes. And they said I could take the class again in college, but it costs’ extra. And I would be behind my classmates and graduate late or have to take summer classes to catch up. Which like, no thanks. Or I could try again in August.”

“Okay, and so…” Tina followed for a bit. “Why are you here exactly?” Despite the knowing look on her face, she asked just to clearify for herself.

“Well, I told them I’ll retake the test. And they said to study and offered me a bunch of tutors. But, it didn’t click right, then i remembered that no one quite taught me the subject as well as Mr. Reed here. So, he offered to tutor me before my retake.”

“That’s nice of him.” Tinas gaze softened and she looked at Gavin who’s expression twisted and his nose scrunched. 

He avoided eye contact and rolled his eyes halfheartedly. 

“I’m doing it for the money, nothing more Tina. Don’t get it twisted.” He grumbled out. 

Tina shook her head, her smile never wavering. “Mhm. Well, good luck Shane. Are you coming with us for lunch?”

“Oh sure, I know this sandwich place not too far from here. It’s really good.”

“Ugh, no.” Gavins voice was heavy with distaste, neither of the recipients minded.

“Yeah, no can do. Gavin has an unresolved romantic past with the sandwich artist there.” Tina sounded amused, the ends of her words tilting in such a way that sounded teasing.

“Holy shit-“ Shane leaned forward eagerly.

“Language.” Both teachers interrupted.

“-With Francis?” He finished regardless.

“Is that his name?” Gavin grumbled pointedly with a roll of his eyes as if he didn’t actually care. 

“I had no idea Francis swung that way. Especially for Mr. Reed. No offense Mr. G.”

Gavin’s eyebrows scrunched in offense. “How the hell am i not supposed to take offense to that.”

“It’s just like, you’re kinda...”

“Do. Not.” Gavin growled, his eyes narrow in a threat. Shane awkwardly chuckled. 

“Uh- Not what I thought his type was?” 

Gavin chewed on his lip and looked away, the frustration and anger not leaving his expression.

Tina kept Shane talking though.

“Yeah, that’s usually how Gavin’s relations go. Surprising both his partners and everyone around Gavin.”

He didn’t like this topic of conversation.

“Why don’t we start talking about TINA’s relationships.”

“Haha, lets not.”

“Ooo yes lets. What’s going on in Miss chen-land?”

“No..” Tina shyly chuckled and avoided their pointed looks. She crossed her arms and closed herself off from the conversations. Despite the clear dislike of the current conversation Gavin continued.

“Where to start? Perhaps her obvious crush on the secretary?”

Shane gasped loudly, then looked at Tina then back to Gavin before whispering loudly in the quiet halls. “Ms. Kamski?” 

Gavin nodded, the grin pulling across his face before he continued..

“Or perhaps the freshman history teacher?”

“You have the hot’s for Mr. S?”

“Or maybe, the PE teacher?”

“North too? Who at the school don’t you have a crush on?” Shane’s face lit up with disbelief, to which Tina replied.

“Gavin.”

“Oof, that’s low.” Gavin already knew that, and the grin that never wavered on his face only grew. “But, I’m such a catch.”

“This topic was a mistake.” Tina groaned.

Shane led the way to the parking lot, being the one to push open the entrance doors. Holding it open for his two former teachers.

“Hey, why don’t you call us by our actual names. We aren’t your teachers anymore.” Tina tried changing things after a lull in conversation.

“No, can do, that’s like hella wrong.”

“Wh- uh. But, you’ll cuss just fine in front of us?”

“Sure, it’s not like you can do anything about it.”

“I.. Guess that’s true?”

“Like, what are you going to do. Give me a detention?”

“... No?”

“But, it just feels gross and wrong to call you guys by actual names and not just what I know you by.”

“You did that for North.”

“Yeah, but she insisted when we had her class. She would throw dodgeballs at us if we didn’t.”

“And you call Mr. G. Or Mr. S. Despite their last names not correlating.”

“Listen, I never said my brain makes any sense.”

Gavin snorted at that, the first sound he made since exiting the school.

They both looked at him at that. It took him a moment to realize they were watching him. He kept his eyes forward however, refusing to make eye contact. After a few seconds of pure silence he gave up and looked at them. 

“What?”

They looked at each other then back to Gavin then shrugged. Gavin was certain at this point that he must have missed something.

“No, seriously. What?” They ignored his questioning. Then continued as if nothing happened.

“So, where are we going to eat if not the sandwich place?”

“Mexican sound good?” Tina asked, the other two shrugged. Gavin was still reeling after their moment but eventually decided to drop it.

“Sure.”

  
  
  


—————-

“Sorry I gotta call it early Mr. G. I’m not entirely done packing and I leave next week.”

“Not a problem Shane. See you, same time tomorrow.” Gavin said absentmindedly while packing up his laptop and putting away the utensils used during their lesson. 

“See ya.” The room fell silent at the departure of his former student. He stood at the end of his desk and stared at his binder, only ¼ of the year covered. 

Apprehensively he slid into his chair and pulled himself into his desk, flipped open the binder and stared at it for a solid 30 seconds before slamming it shut again and laying his head against the cool hardness of his counter top. He could feel the tell tale itch growing by the way his leg shook and his mind felt loud yet remained empty. 

Deciding he should find a better way of dealing with this itch before he did something he would regret. Gavin stood abruptly, pushing his seat back and placing his hands on the table. He pulled open his top drawer and snagged the first lollipop, not even looking at the flavor before tearing open the wrapping and shoving it into his mouth. 

He stalked out of his room and a simple glance into Tina’s room next door to his own told him what he wanted to know, she was in fact in there. But, she looked very engrossed in her current topic of conversation with some other person. He didn’t care to see who since he already got his answer. So, with a silent breath he slumped out of the doorway and instead changed tactics and planned a different way to avoid his responsibilities.

A trip to the vending machine in the teachers lounge should be effective. He swished the lollipop across his teeth, the flavor was strawberry. He could feel it thin and how small it was getting. 

Unconsciously sucking on it for the good part of his time, did tend to wear down his candy. Out of habit he held it between his back teeth and did an experimental bite down, ending up crunching the entire candy into pieces. Not expecting this he lifted his hand to catch anything that might fall out. 

He stepped into the lounge, expecting the area to be empty but, not surprised when it wasn’t. At the copier was Chris, a friend that doesn’t hang out as often as his classroom neighbor Tina, but someone he wouldn't mind catching a drink with after work.

“Hey Reed.” Chris greeted the second he heard Gavin step in.

Gavin nodded, still preoccupied with scooping bits of strawberry out of his teeth with his tongue.

“I didn’t think your vacation was over for another couple days? What happened?”

“Volcano erupted so we were evacuated early.” Gavin grumbled out in full honesty, despite the phrase being entirely untrue.

“Oh, I didn’t hear about that. Is everyone okay?”

“No, the air was toxic so anyone caught on the island is dead.”

“Oh my god, thank god you're okay-“ Chris caught himself and looked at Gavins deadpan face, then his shoulders slumped with realization. “Is this one of your Gavin fibs?”

“I have no idea what youre talking about.”

“Did you even go to Hawaii?”

“Did I?”

“Jeeze you’re an ass.”

“Hey Chris-“ An older gruff voice chimed in, Gavin mentally groaned at the constant interaction with people he wasn’t ready to be around till Tuesday, when classes began. “Reed, you’re back early?”

“Don’t ask why.” Chris warned. “I gotta go back to class, Good seeing ya Hank.”

“Why don’t… nope, not gonna.”

“He was upset at the extreme detail I went into on how my vacation was essentially a literal man hunt.”

“What.” Hank turned to watch Gavin who decided the options on the vending machine were suddenly super interesting. “The. Fuck. Are you on, Reed.” 

It wasn’t a question, but a statement. But Gavin answered nontheless with a shrug of a single shoulder. 

“What weren’t we on. The island’s—that’s with an s so plural, were hell. I saw horrible things.”

“Whatever, you using the copier?”

Gavin shook his head with a mock horrified stare that he knew Hank couldn’t see considering he still faced the vending machine which put Hank at his back.

He decided to end his little charade and pick a snack, which ended up to be Cheetos, but the puff kind. Not some he’s particularly fond of. But, he was tired of being in this room with no conversation. 

And he really didn’t want any conversation.

Disappointed with his choice and his lack of lolly, he hoped maybe he might be able to steal Tina away for some much needed distraction. Maybe lure her away with the promise of Cheeto puffs.

Gavin wasn’t sure if Tina even liked Cheeto puffs.

While he tried to comb through his memories and try to think of a time he was sure she had eaten any kind of vending machine chips, he made it to her door. It was silent, he didn’t need to look in to know she wasn’t there anymore.

But he did anyways. And it did end up confirming what he already knew. 

A glance into his own dark room showed she wasn’t there either. Holding back a barely contained sigh of frustration took all of his remaining concentration.

Gavin caved in on himself and gave up, he tossed his unwanted bag of Cheeto puffs on his desk, opened his bottom drawer and pulled out a pack he was hoping not to hold on his first day back.

Yet it had been a very long month and he felt he deserved something to take the edge off.

And if there was no other distractions, and he had only his thoughts and growing anxieties.

He had to. 

Gavin wanted desperately to run into Tina on his way out, for her to suddenly appear and stop him. He wanted this pack to be only for absolutely necessary. 

However, it felt absolutely necessary right at this moment. For what happened over the summer, for failing his student, coming back early, wasting his trip. 

The fact that he’s 36 years old working as a chemistry teacher when he wanted to become a detective and he doesn’t even know if he’s happy anymore or if he’s ever been happy in his life.

Waiting for that magic moment to arrive where he isn’t like this and isn’t sad or angry so often. 

But, he didn’t run into anyone, no one came out and told him not to do it. No one suddenly texted him like “hey I know you’re going through shit, but don’t go through with it.”

Gavin sighed and slumped against the tree outside the doors. He opened his pack and tapped out one of the cigarettes that laid inside, flicked out his lighter and took a deep breath in.

Which turned out to be a mistake, despite Gavin having a ton of experience smoking.

It had been a while and he’s been trying to cut it off.

But, Gavins been trying to do that since he became a teacher, it always ends up like this.

He manages to make it to a single pack before school starts up, but then it increases as time goes on and at the beginning of the summer he’s back to the usual count. 

Then he spends the entire summer trying to cut himself off and quit.

But then August comes up, and empty promises are made. Promises he always breaks.

Because when it comes to himself, its easier to break promises.

His breathing evens out and he takes in a long drag once more, feeling the way the nicotine hit and his shoulders loosen. 

The way the air felt calmer, the sky slowed. It was quiet, he was okay. Everything was okay.

He took another breath. It tasted gross.

Gavin propped his arms against his legs and watched the cigarette burn inbetween his fingers, the way the ash fell to the ground. He flicked it once, then twice. Then took another drag.

Someone took him out of his temporary haze, a few simple words caused him to come crashing to reality.

“Smoking is a bad habit.” A cold voice appeared above Gavins shoulder. Gavin was still in a haze so he didn’t say anything. Instead he looked at the source and found a very tall individual in a high collared white business suit with a black shirt. He squinted, trying to see the face of the fucker who dared to interrupt this moment. But, the sun glared in Gavins eyes, causing a shadow to befall the persons facial features.

“You should quit.”

Gavin scoffed and turned his head to take another drag, ignoring who ever this person was. He could have sworn he’s heard that voice before, but no amount of searching through his memories would tell him the source. 

Gavin wasn’t sure if they left, not able to hear any retreating footsteps, but not really paying this person any attention. More upset by the absolute Gall this bitch had to tell Gavin not to smoke.

This guy has no idea what Gavin does, no idea how he’s _tried_ to stop. How he always, no matter how long it’s been, goes back. 

Because Gavin like’s it. Likes the easy access to this quick fix. Doesn’t want to take the long way at happiness when a simple drag between his fingertips could get him where he needs.

As much as Gavin hates it, Gavin loves it.

It’ll always ends like this for him.

Gavin flicked the stub onto the ground and crushed it, he didn’t care if it wasn’t a designated smoking area. He didn’t care if he was technically littering and someone would find it.

He was done, he wanted to go inside.

Once back into his classroom he stood at his door for a few seconds, trying desprately to shake off his momentary crisis and get back into preparation mode. The moment he realized he had was when a hand on his shoulder jolted him out of his empty thoughts.

He turned halfway back and saw Tina, anger bubbled at her not being here moments before to stop him. But, it faded with the thought, ‘it wasn’t her fault. It’s your own.’

“Hey,” she said, a subtle sniff and her head tilted. “I thought you quit smoking.”

Gavin shrugged and trudged into his room, tossing his pack into the bottom drawer, hoping to forget it’s there.

But, knowing he won’t.

“What’s up?” 

“Oh, uh. It’s almost 5 I didn’t know if you wanted to head out together or not?”

Gavin shrugged again and packed up his laptop into his bag. Slinging his jacket over his shoulder he turned the lights off and left his classroom. Meeting Tina outside his door.

“Want to get a drink tonight?”

“I think I just want to go home and pass out” He replied, surprising himself. He’s never really turned Tina down for a chance at free alcohol. But, he honestly wasn’t used to getting up at 6 am again. 

“Okay, See you tomorrow?”

Gavin grunted and made his way to his car the second they stepped out into the parking lot. 

The drive home was irritating, everyone and their dog was getting off work so the actual process of getting to his house took a lot longer than he anticipated.

Eventually he made it to his one bedroom apartment, to the empty rooms and the unpacked suitcases that sat next to the door. He cleaned up before he left, but the way the house looked it felt unnatural. 

“I’m home.” He called out before he could stop himself, he closed the door and suddenly it hit him just how silent it was.

“Cup?” He called out and began to look around, first under the couch then behind the counter, he tried again. “Cupcake?” 

It was when Gavin searched in his room and saw the spot where the cat carrier usually sat was empty, he remembered he brought her to the 24/7 animal service to babysit his cat while he was on vacation.

And since he came back early, he hadn’t picked her up yet. He flopped on the couch and pulled out his phone, flipping through to find the most recent number he called was in fact that service.

He doesn’t call people often.

He held it up to his ear and he heard the _ring, ring, ring_. Only sounding three times before the click and someone answered.

“24/7 animal services. What can I do for you?”

“Hi, it’s Gavin Reed. Three weeks ago I dropped off my cat to be babysat till next Tuesday. And I-“

“We can’t extend their stay, you’ll need to have someone pick up your cat on Tuesday or they go to the shelter.”

“No I-“

“Then there’s nothing we can do. Thank you, goodbye.”

“Wait-“ And they hung up. Gavin let out a growl in frustration and called again, he wasn’t going to be bested.

It rang until voicemail and Gavin hung up and waited a solid three minutes before trying again, maybe they had another call.

So he tried again, and this time they picked up.

“24/7 Animal services. What can I do for you?”

“Hi I called earlier. My trip ended early, I wanted to pick up my cat.”

Through Gavins gritted teeth he managed to make the sentence before the person interjected, not giving Gavin a moment to breath.

This reaction incited one in Gavins chest of anger and frustration and it built and built. Gavin tried to listen to the person over the phone but all he heard was ‘Wa wa wa wa wa’.

But Gavin interpreted it as: “You can’t have your cat.”

“Why the fuck not?” Gavin was so exhausted, it leaked into his anger causing it to flair up. He knows he’s had problems in the past when it came to his issues. But, he didn’t do anything about it, and he wasn’t planning on it.

“We have it here that a Gavin Reed isn’t scheduled to pick up his cat until next Tuesday at 5 pm.”

“Yeah, but my trip-“

“I’m sorry but it says Gavin Reed is still on his trip.”

“No, my trip ended early. I got back yesterday. I want to pick up my cat.”

“Nothing we can do.”

“You idiot, you can give-“ _Click_. Gavin couldn’t restrain the yell of frustration and he gripped his phone so tightly, he couldn’t decide between crushing the device in his hands or throwing it against the wall. He wasn’t sure when he started standing, he was only aware of it when the urge to pace began.

Gavin tried to take a few deep breaths and decided another phone call to them was just asking for him to drive down there and beat the ever living hell out of whoever was in charge of phone calls.

So, he dropped his phone onto the couch and shook out his hands. He threw his head back and let out a breath that turned into a growl. He tried again. 

After enough anger leaked out that he wasn’t going to immediately destroy something or punch someone. He grabbed his phone and made a different call, needing to hear her calming voice rather than misread the text messages.

A problem he finds he has.

The number dialed and he heard only two rings before the click and Tina’s voice sounded.

“Hey, Gav?” She sounded curious and concerned. Gavin wasn’t sure what he was expecting, he knew he needed something. But he was silent, causing Tina to speak again.

“Is everything alright?” 

Gavin felt this was a bad idea, he shouldn’t have called. It was a moment of weaknesss, and Reed men don’t share their moment of weakness.

He spoke up anyways.

“You still down for that bar crawl?” His voice had an edge to it, he was certain she could hear it.

“Hell yes. Let me call the others.” And she hung up before Gavin could question who the hell she meant by ‘others.’

Gavin contemplates another cigarette, before remembering he left them at the school.

The _others_ meant Hank Anderson, Connor Stern, and Chris. Good ol’ chris.

Apparently there was one other teacher invited but he was too busy prepping for his classes, so he couldn’t make it.

Or so Tina says. To which Gavin replied.

“It’s dumb to go the whole nine yards. To the NINETH hour, for a stupid class. Not gonna all stick in the end anyways.” 

But they all ignored him. They usually do.

Gavin sat at the bar next to Tina who was wildly retelling a story to Hank who looked as though he was only half listening and half drinking his scotch.

Or whiskey.

Gavin didn’t care to pay attention to what they ordered.

Connor however, looked very ingrossed in what Tina was saying. It was a little hard to read Connor. But, Gavin is the master of facial expression, after living with stone cold parents with micro expressions. He learned to adapt. 

Connor was much more expressive than his parents however, the soft tilt in his smirk, the subtle eyebrow raise or the flicker of his calculating brown eyes.

The tilt in his head, as he watched Tina’s hands while she described something incredulous.

Gavins heard this story so many times by now, it happens every summer yet she acts as if it’s the first time.

This incredible machine she saw at the science event during the summer. 

Gavin could easily predict what she would see, since it doesnt change much.

Instead he turned his attention to Chris, he opened his mouth to say something but noticed the other teacher was on the phone. Happily chatting away.

Gavin only caught, “sweetheart.” And “bubble bath.”

And he realized Chris was talking to his wife.

This caused an upturn of disgust on Gavins face, why would you call your partner, whom you see every single night without fail. While you’re hanging out with friends.

Gavin huffed and rolled his eyes, it’s suffocating. 

He couldn’t imagine being in something like that. 

It would simply be too much.

Gavin patted the counter and waved the bartender down for a beer. The drink he was nursing lost it’s spark, he took the final swig in the glass and happily accepted the replacement.

He was silent for another 30 minutes before Hank turned from Tina’s conversation which turned into just Connor and her recounting tales.

And he faces Gavin who is heavily contemplating just going home.

“Saw Shane today.”

“Yeah?” Gavin spoke like he had no idea where Hank was going.

“Heard he was going into college and majoring in Engineering.”

“Really.” He kept his gaze on his bottle which was slowly dwindling, and ignored Hanks pointed looks.

“And that he failed his entrance exam for physics.”

“Is that so.”

“....” Hank fell silent at this point, causing gavin to look over and see why. Instead he just met Hank’s pointed looks and knowing hint of a grin.

“What’s the point of this conversation?”

“Nothing. Just that I hope he does well on his retake.”

“Tell the little shit that yourself.” Gavin downed the final drops of his beer and in the same movement he stands up to walk himself home.

“I’m gonna go pass out.”

Hank nodded and patted Connor, they had some kind of silent interaction that set something off in the back of Gavins mind, which he ended up ignoring. 

He instead just ambled out of the bar and towards his car, knowing the amount of alcohol in his system wasn’t near enough to prevent him from drivng. But hoping to make it there before Hank or someone tries to stop him.

On the way out he threw his hood up against the cool autumn breeze, then dug out his keys on the step.

“Excuse me.” A familiar voice called before tapping Gavin to the side, He didn’t bother to look up and meet whoever the initiator was. He just grunted as a ‘sorry’. Or something then shifted out of the way before meandering towards his car.

All he knew was the touch on his shoulder burned from the stranger, and the alcohol must have effected his system more than he thought. Since even being in the space briefly of a stranger sounded so addicting.

But Gavin shook those thoughts out and started his car, not bothering to roll down his windows when Connor stood knocking on them.

Instead he backed up, causing the T.A. To step back in surprise. Then drove out of the parking lot. 

The roads were empty and the sun had long since set, and all Gavin could think about was how fucking soft his bed was going to be in the comfort of his apartment.

It was brief disappointment, however, when he planted face first into his mattress and found it much less comfortable than he remembered. 

But, he rolled onto his back and made himself comfortable anyways. Wanting desperately to pass the fuck out and start the day again tomorrow, hopefully finding it easier to handle than today.

Yet every moment he’s about to sleep, it feels empty beside him and quiet throughout the house. His thoughts felt so loud.

Gavin wasn’t sure how long he had gone trying to sleep, but in the midst of his struggle his phone buzzed in his jeans pocket that he still wore.

He shifted around to wrangle the phone out, debating just leaving it for the morning. Deciding if it’s late enough for someone to text him, it might be important.

“Where u go?” 

It was from Tina, he saw the time and noticed he’s been home for an hour.

He let out a breath, left her on read and finally passed out.

—-

“Do you understand this one?” It was Friday, the last one before Shane goes to take his test. Gavin sat once more on his counter, shifting through papers and giving Shane a pop quiz when it came to equations.

He tried to make it just as stressful as an exam might be, but when it came to Gavin’s class, it was just about as stress free as it can get.

“Maybe?”

Gavin waited for Shane to continue, to which he got a slow nod then shake of his head.

“No, I don’t. Why is it like this?”

Gavin rubbed at his face and slid off the counter to look at what Shane referred to. 

He chewed his lip and understood that Shane wasn’t going to get why it was the way that it is. So, he tried a different last minute tactic.

“Okay so, where do we get the 2 from.”

“Where? We get if from the previous equation.”

“Okay, where do we get the 4x^2?”

“.... it was given.”

“Right, so this is the overall equation under the square root, and we are trying to find what?”

Shane tapped the question they were looking at and Gavin nodded.

“So, anytime you want to find the answer to a question like this, you…?”

“Take the answer from this equation.” He pointed to the previous answer. Then slid his finger over and pointed to the given equation. “And add it onto this one.”

“Yes, now lets do this four more times and well take the final quiz after lunch. Cool?”

“... Think I’m gonna pass?”

“I dunno, that’s entirely up to you. If you remember to breath and take things slow without getting into your head. Maybe, but if you’re an idiot like me?? Also maybe. It’s a tossup kid.”

Shane nodded and got back to the questions Gavin gave. 

He wandered to his desk and pulled out his top drawer, looking through the lollipops and ignoreing the Cheeto puffs that have just been siting there since he bought them.

He pulls out three suckers and stuffed them into his jacket pocket then lounges in his chair, watching Shane zoom through his equations and finish up his work.

It was only a few moments before Shane gave his telltale grin of victory and looked at Gavin and shared a thumbs up.

Gavin waved him over to look over his answers. The soft grin Gavin shared was genuine.

“You got it kid, about a 93 percent accuracy. You did pretty well like this when you took my class. So long as you keep this mindset in the test, you’ll do great.” Gavin stood and shooed him out of the class room. 

“Now lets go nab Chen for some lunch. Where you want to go?”

Shane shrugged, Gavin could tell he was anxious. But Gavin had no idea how to help someone when they were anxious. Barely able to help himself most times. 

So he just directed Shane by his shoulders to the front of Tina’s room.

“Ti.” He called in just before noticing Principle Fowler standing over her desk, the room fell silent as Gavin rudely burst in. The way he stood over her said bad news. But Gavin didn’t know enough to come to a consinses. 

He would have to get her to tell him later.

”Oh, hey Fowler.”

”Reed.”

”Hey principle Fowler.”

”Mr. Matthews... weren’t you supposed to graduate?”

”I did, I- It’s a long story.”

”Yes. I suppose it might.” Fowler turned back and tapped twice on Tina’s desk, an action Gavin couldn’t help but focus on. 

“We’ll talk more later.”

”Of course.”

Fowler nodded once to both of the men standing outside Tina’s door, before disappearing down the hall. 

Gavin watched faintly before seeing him turn the corner and immediately rounding onto Tina for an explanation.

She was preoccupied with cleaning up her desk of clutter and gathering her bag to notice Gavin’s intrigued stare, but a part of her knew he was watching.

”Don’t worry about it Gav.”

”C’mon Chen, What was that about? Are you getting fired? A raise? Did they finally look over your application to live in the creepy basement?”

”My what?”

”Your application to- You know this why do I have to explain it. Just. Tell me.”

”Don’t worry about it, seriously. No I’m not getting fired or a raise. He just wanted to talk to me about getting a T.A.”

”Damn, You need a teachers assistant?”

”Not really... but there’s someone who wants to go into teaching high school sciences. So Mr. Fowler thought it a good idea to pair them up with me. But, he wanted my go ahead first.”

”You’re really moving up in the world. Your own T.A. God. If i had a t.a-”  
Tina cut him off to say exactly what Gavin would do with a T.A.’

”You would overwork the poor fellow and you’d just lean back and watch them teach your class.”

”.... and it would be glorious.”

”Jeeze.” He could feel her roll her eyes at him. Then she switched gears, finally acknowledging Shane’s presence. “So where to for lunch?”

“I could go for some sandwiches.” Shane finally said after his long silence. Causing a very vocal groan erupt from Gavin’s throat.

”NooooOOOOO.” His eyes flickered to look at Shane in betrayal. 

“they’re such great sandwiches, and it would be good luck.”

The puppy dog eyes never worked on Gavin, he would stand by that statement till the day he Eventually gets stabbed and dies.

He just happened to give in and go along with it because he wanted to. Not because of those eyes.

”Fine. But if Francisco-“

”Francis.”

”-is there, I’m hightailing it back to Hawaii.“

“he kinda owns the place, he’s usually there.”

”Damn, you hear that Gavin? A high class individual. Owning his own business.”

Gavin rolled his eyes at Tina’s very obvious attempt at selling the idea of Francisco.

“.... I’m not gonna talk.”

”You don’t have to. Tell me what you want and I’ll order it for you.”

”I can order my own shit, I’m just not gonna do small talk.”

”Yeah, Gav ain’t one for small talk.” Tina’s turn to roll her eyes.

”I don’t know what that was for but I don’t appreciate the energy.” Tina scoffed in reply.

”Whatever, fine. Let’s go to Francisco-“

”Francis.”

”- crackhead, sandwich shop.”

”.... Francis doesn’t do crack.”

Gavin gave him a look and they travelled in silence. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have more written, ill post it when its better lol

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblrs midnightdotdragon. Come say hi, I love to chat. It’s why I write.


End file.
